Carboy crate



Oct. 16, 1956 1 R WALLACE 2,766,899

CARBOY CRATE Filed Jan. 19, 1953 ATTO R N EY United States Patent Cilice 2,766,899 Patented Oct. 16, 1956 CARBOY CRATE James Russell Wallace, Lansing, Mich., assigner to Carrier-Stephens Company, Lansing, Mich., a corporation of Michigan Application January 19, 1953, Serial No. 331,862

1 Claim. (Cl. 21S-12) This invention relates to improved carboy bottle crates and more particularly to rod constructed crates which enclose a cylindrical bottle sheath.

In the eld of handling and storing liquid materials such as corrosive chemicals, i-t has been found that glass containers or bottles are the most satisfactory but by reason of their shape and breakable character, such bottles must be enclosed for protection and to effect ease of handling.

In providing such a carboy bottle crate, several objectives have been of principal importance. The crate must be light in weight, compact in size, capable of withstanding compressive stresses when stacked, and of such rugged construction as to withstand extremely rough handling and miscellaneous impact loads. This invention combines a solution to these and other material handling problems with respect to carboy crates by providing a rod construction, combined with a cylindrical sleeve which fits snugly about the bottle as a part of said crate so as to more adequately distribute stress loads and to lessen the possibility of impact breakage.

Previously existing bottle crates, as shown in Patents 2,330,982 and 2,541,972, employing a rod construction, have been found defective Where the vertical rods positioning the bottle have borne directly upon the bottle sides, or, more seriously, the horizontal members in direct contact with the bottle have, upon impact caused glass container breakage. It has been found that a cylindrical sleeve preferably of expanded metal permits removal of many of the heretofore necessary vertical rods without a material diminution of the compression resistance of the structure and without a material addition in weight.

Therefore, a primary object of this invention is to provide a crate having a bottle liner in the form of a cylindrical sleeve which materially increases the area of contact between bottle and crate.

A further object is to provide a more satisfactory means of distributing shock loads over the entire bottle surface.

Other objects and purposes of my invention will be apparent to those acquainted with articles of this type upon inspection of the following specification with reference to the accompanying drawing.

Figure l is a front elevation of a carboy crate illustrating my invention.

Figure 2 is a side elevation of the carboy crate.

Figure 3 is a plan view of the carboy crate shown in Figure l.

Figure 4 is a perspective of a bottle sheathed in an expanded metal sleeve.

Figure 5 is a plan View of the bottle retaining means.

Figure 6 is a side elevational detail of the bottle retaining fastener.

I have invented a bottle crate having a top, bottom and intermediate exterior frame members circumscribing a cylindrical sleeve enclosing a bottle, the vertical members of which ame are placed inside ring-shaped members in direct contact with the cylindrical sleeve, and a number of said vertical members are bent to form a floor for the bottle `and sleeve.

In the following description the words upper and lower are freely used Iand are to be taken to mean in relation to the crate :as seen in Figs. l and 2.

Referring more specifically to the drawing, the numeral 11 indicates an exterior housing having a top frame 12, an intermedia-te frame 13 and a bottom frame 14. An interior housing 15 consisting of an upper ring-shaped member 16 and a lower ring-shaped member 17 and straight vertical members 18 is seated within the exterior housing 11 in such a manner that a portion of the interior surfaces of the ring-shaped members 16 and 17 are vertically aligned with a portion of the interior surfaces of the frame members 12, 13 and 14. The intermediate frame 13, bottom frame 14, and ring-shaped member 17 are formed rigidly into a unit by butt welding or other suitable joining means. The straight vertical members 18 `are located at the points where the inside surfaces of the ring-shaped members and the frame members are in alignment beneath the opening 19 created by the elimination of a portion of the top frame 12.

The top frame 12, intermediate frame 13, and the bottom frame 14 are formed in the shape of a square with rounded corners. Vertical supports 20 are Welded to the intermediate frame 13 and the top frame 12 at their respective points of contact and loops 21 are provided at each of the upper four corners of the exterior housing 11 and welded or otherwise af'ixed thereto. The straight vertical members 18 of the interior housing 15 are welded to the interior surfaces of the frame members 13 and 14 and to the interior surfaces of the ring-shaped members 16 and 17 and spaced approximately one-sixth of the width of one of the frame members.

Besides the Vertical members 18, four tie elements 22 are provided which are welded or otherwise fixed to the interior surfaces of the top frame 12, said tie elements 22 extending inwardly and downwardly to pass within the ring-shaped members 16 `and 17 to which they are welded. At the lower ends, at a point somewhat above the lower surface of the bottom frame. 14, the tie elements 22 are each bent through approximately a degree arc to form floor members 23 for the interior housing 15. After forming the floor members 23, the tie elements 22 are bent to extend upwardly again to the top frame 12 and are welded to the interior surfaces of the ring-shaped members 16 and 17 and to the top frame 12. Two of the oor members 23 are provided with joggled portions 24 to permit the passage of the other two iloor members at their intersection point 25 while maintaining a level upper surface. The iloor members are welded together at each of the intersections 25.

A sleeve 26 preferably 4made from expanded metal is provided in the form of a cylinder or tube which nests inside the cylindrical opening defined by the vertical members 18 and the tie members 22 inside of the ringshaped members 16 and 17. The sleeve 26 is of approximately the same internal diameter as the bottle 27 and may be fabricated from a solid sheet of metal or plastic, but in its preferred form, as shown in the drawing, is fabricated from expanded metal. The sleeve 26 may be butt welded at its seam (not shown in the drawing) or otherwise fastened by means well known in the art. The cylindrical metal sleeve or jacket 26 is provided at its lower end with a closure plate 28, 4also preferably of expanded metal, which rests, when the bottle and sleeve 26 are placed inside the interior housing 15, upon the floor member 23. The closure plate 28 is welded to the bottom of the sleeve 26. The height of the sleeve 26 may be varied, but a convenient height has been so that when the sleeve 26 is in position it does not extend above the upper ringshaped member 16. At this height, the sleeve 26 does not interfere with the opening 19 which is provided for convenient pouring and incorporates a maximum of rigid- Y stacked crates.

Y ity, stability and impact resistance to the structure. Like-Y wise, at the indicated heightpthere is no interference with the bottle retainer 29 and catches 30. The bottle retainer 29 is made from a rod bentin the formrof a square with rounded corners and butt welded so as to go overthe neck otthe bottle i 7 and Vis provided with catches ."i'iashionebyY loops 31'overthe corners of the retainer 29fso as to prevent detachment and hooks 32 at its other Yend which member 16 so as to assure that the bottle 27 will retain its position even with the crate `in the inverted position. The various rod members of' the crate are preferablyV constructed from `steel rod because of its relative strength, durability and Yexcellent Welding characteristics. The

' sleeve 2d and the sleeve closure'plate 23 are constructed of any suitable material but preferably of expanded metal since the intersticial spaces permit visual inspection of theY contents of the container 27' and a maximum of idexureY with bottle expansion. VIn all of the parts', however, other materials may be used Where the circumstances dictate that such should be done. The various parts or" the crate may beY protected by suitable Ycorrosion resistant coatings such as plastics, enamels,'or parkerizirig.

' Operation The bottle 27 is inserted in the crate by seating it within the sleeve 26 inside the interior housing 15. The suspension arrangement by the tie members 22` assures suspension of the bottle 27 within the sleeve 26 and provides a slightly resilient oor 13. When the bottle 27 has thus been positioned, the retainer 29 is placed around the taper- Ving neck of the bottle 27 with one of the catches 3G attached to the upper Vring-shaped member 16 by engage ment of the hook 32. The ring-shaped member 16 is thus sprung together to permit the oppositely disposed hook 32 tobe slipped over it. The springing of the ring-shaped member 16 is accomplished by means of gap 33 provided at'the endsof the rin g-shaped member 16.

The loops v21, having the appearance of ears, serve the purpose of stackingrguides for the vertical alignment of Or the'loops 21 may be used by cranes for the liftingand handling of the crates. The vertical supports 18 and 19 absorb most of the tensional and compressive loads, being adequately supported by theV ringmay be engaged oppcsitely'npon the upper'ringshaped t shaped members 16 and 17 and the frame members 12, 13 45 and 14. Impact loads are transmitted to the bottle 27 uniformly through the structure because ofthe jacket sleeve 26 yand the sleeve 26 permits much more satisfactory shielding of the bottle 27 than heretofore obtained.

The opening 19 in the exterior housing 11 adds to the.

resiliency of the upper ring shaped member 16, but also permits the crate to be tipped for decanting withoutre-V moval ofthe bottle 7 and Without spilling any of its contents upon parts of the crate.

Various modificationsofthe described invention Will be Y y immediately apparent to persons acquainted with equip-Y ment of this type and accordingly, thev hereinafter'appended claims should be interpreted te cover Such modi/- fcations Yand variations excepting.. as Such by itsk own terms expressly requires otherwise.

I claim;

A protective crate for bottle comprising: Va plurality of substantially square frame members, one of which forms the top of said crate, and one Vof which forms the bottom of said crate; a plurality of horizontally disposed ring-shaped members vertically spaced between said frame members andY having a Vportion'of their inside surfaces in the same vertical plane as a portion of the inside surfaces of said frame members, the upper of said ring-shaped members being resilient and having its ends spaced apart a short distance;- straight vertical rods attached to the'in-Y` side surface of said upper ring-shaped member and to said bottom frame on one side only of said crate; a plurality of rods each constituting as a unit a pair of' vertical stays and a door member, attached to the inside surface of said top frame memberY and ring-shapedmembers andasVV a group forming a cylindrical pocket; a sleeve of expanded metal closed at one end, within said cylindrical pocket References Cited in the le of this patent U'NITED STATES PATENTS 2,541,972v Wallace Feb. 13,V 19.571

FOREIGN PATENTS Y 52,804. Switzerland July lb, 1910 209,218 Great Britain Ian. l0, 1924 672,476 Germany n Mar. 6, 1939- a l I t 

